It seems to me, sadly, the "I told you so" element is an integral part of all football fora. ( I made that up, it sounds like it should be the plural of forum)
The consequence is when we have a poor result anyone who made an argument about signing a particular player in the first place, will air it again, and again, at every opportunity, human nature I suspect.
Amplify this by say six players yet to really write themselves in as “acceptableâ€, and the outcome is , or appears to be Knee-Jerk Fest 2006 (insert particular year), on boards from Liverpool to Shanghai . I did use the simile, like a RNIB River Dance Festival, the other day, I apologise – not for any offence, but for using it again.
This becomes even more deeply entrenched, and as time goes by it actually becomes personal.
As, or when, the player, or players, concerned does have a good game the fans that agreed with the wisdom of the purchase come straight back , and ram it straight down the throats of the detractors.
It at this point then becomes a battle of wills between two sides, and misses the real issues, and a cycle is born.
The cycle becomes black and white, “yes he isâ€, against - “no he isn’tâ€. The subject player eventually becomes a figure of hate for some, not only because they still believe the original argument, but because one of the protagonists, and we have all seen it, has been made to look very stupid by a turn round in the players form, or a ridiculous post, or combination of the two, seemingly caused by egos who can never be seen to be wrong.
There is an ever increasing blame culture that has crept into all aspect of society, when we lose we have to blame someone. It seems that a common element is to pick on one feature, due perhaps to long held prejudices as described above. Take Liverpool’s loss to Bolton at the weekend. The players targeted range across the whole team, apart from one or two practically immune players, goalkeeper through to centre forward, the Manager, the opposition manager, the officials, the FA, Sky TV. Losing, or indeed winning, is usually an accumulation of events, sometimes triggered by one over-riding catalyst, for example in the match mentioned a clearly wrong decision by an official.
The writers problem with some of this is he was brought up in an age when a Liverpool supporter just did not criticise anything to do with LFC, certainly not to the extent that seems acceptable theses days, yes some players do frustrate, some players occasionally deserve to be berated, ( people will tell me that is our right, perhaps it is), but I believe it has now reached the point, on some occasions, when “fans†on here, and elsewhere, actually hope a player plays badly to prove their wisdom.
Football is not an exact science- that is why it is popular. It is not wholly predictable- that is why we keep going back. It is full of controversy- that is why we argue. It is a bottomless pit of options- that is why we discuss. Its whole heart surrounds a group of people who are mostly no more than boys, a great many of who are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, academia and IQ was not / is not their skill, spatial awareness and athleticism is. We expect these boys to be uprooted from a different environment, sometimes a different culture, and language, and we expect them to settle overnight, it just does not happen like that, OK occasionally it does.
They pull on a red jersey; and as long as they work hard and act professionally they should expect our support. This is not to say there is some cut off point when criticism might not be reasonable. I would suggest though that after between four and eight competitive games would not be regarded by anyone with any mental capacity as fair.
In writing this I have become aware of my own short-comings in this area, and I only hope some , like me, will make a concerted effort to be more patient, tolerant and understanding. If that still fails and people still feel criticism is justified, remember to have the good grace to accept he is still a Liverpool player, and personal vitriolic attacks in some circles are seen as wrong.
It used to be part of that spiritual code of conduct, that is fast evaporating, called The Liverpool Way
The consequence is when we have a poor result anyone who made an argument about signing a particular player in the first place, will air it again, and again, at every opportunity, human nature I suspect.
Amplify this by say six players yet to really write themselves in as “acceptableâ€, and the outcome is , or appears to be Knee-Jerk Fest 2006 (insert particular year), on boards from Liverpool to Shanghai . I did use the simile, like a RNIB River Dance Festival, the other day, I apologise – not for any offence, but for using it again.
This becomes even more deeply entrenched, and as time goes by it actually becomes personal.
As, or when, the player, or players, concerned does have a good game the fans that agreed with the wisdom of the purchase come straight back , and ram it straight down the throats of the detractors.
It at this point then becomes a battle of wills between two sides, and misses the real issues, and a cycle is born.
The cycle becomes black and white, “yes he isâ€, against - “no he isn’tâ€. The subject player eventually becomes a figure of hate for some, not only because they still believe the original argument, but because one of the protagonists, and we have all seen it, has been made to look very stupid by a turn round in the players form, or a ridiculous post, or combination of the two, seemingly caused by egos who can never be seen to be wrong.
There is an ever increasing blame culture that has crept into all aspect of society, when we lose we have to blame someone. It seems that a common element is to pick on one feature, due perhaps to long held prejudices as described above. Take Liverpool’s loss to Bolton at the weekend. The players targeted range across the whole team, apart from one or two practically immune players, goalkeeper through to centre forward, the Manager, the opposition manager, the officials, the FA, Sky TV. Losing, or indeed winning, is usually an accumulation of events, sometimes triggered by one over-riding catalyst, for example in the match mentioned a clearly wrong decision by an official.
The writers problem with some of this is he was brought up in an age when a Liverpool supporter just did not criticise anything to do with LFC, certainly not to the extent that seems acceptable theses days, yes some players do frustrate, some players occasionally deserve to be berated, ( people will tell me that is our right, perhaps it is), but I believe it has now reached the point, on some occasions, when “fans†on here, and elsewhere, actually hope a player plays badly to prove their wisdom.
Football is not an exact science- that is why it is popular. It is not wholly predictable- that is why we keep going back. It is full of controversy- that is why we argue. It is a bottomless pit of options- that is why we discuss. Its whole heart surrounds a group of people who are mostly no more than boys, a great many of who are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, academia and IQ was not / is not their skill, spatial awareness and athleticism is. We expect these boys to be uprooted from a different environment, sometimes a different culture, and language, and we expect them to settle overnight, it just does not happen like that, OK occasionally it does.
They pull on a red jersey; and as long as they work hard and act professionally they should expect our support. This is not to say there is some cut off point when criticism might not be reasonable. I would suggest though that after between four and eight competitive games would not be regarded by anyone with any mental capacity as fair.
In writing this I have become aware of my own short-comings in this area, and I only hope some , like me, will make a concerted effort to be more patient, tolerant and understanding. If that still fails and people still feel criticism is justified, remember to have the good grace to accept he is still a Liverpool player, and personal vitriolic attacks in some circles are seen as wrong.
It used to be part of that spiritual code of conduct, that is fast evaporating, called The Liverpool Way
